Publisher's Synopsis
The European School of Oncology (ESO) is a non-governmental, non profit-making organisation, which was founded in 1982. The rate of progress in the areas of diagnosis and treatment of cancer is so rapid that oncologists need continuous updating in order to provide their patients the best chances for palliation or cure. ESO recognises the multi-disciplinary nature of cancer treatment, and its activities encompass all medical, nursing and technical specialities dealing with neoplastic diseases.
One of the many initiatives of ESO has been the institution of task forces, where leading experts exchange views on the state-of-the-art of a given field, discuss controversies, new developments, and give opinions on future directions.
The Scientific Updates are a series of books designed to disseminate the full results of such discussions.
The Breast Cancer Task Force of the European School of Oncology met at Runnymede, near London, in January 1999. The aim of this session was to review the clinical and biological data related to the use of primary medical therapy in breast cancer.
Primary medical therapy has been with us for over 20 years now, so it was thought to be of value to bring together many of the leading investigators in the area. This allowed us to produce a summary of the current status of primary medical therapy, as outlined in this volume, and to discuss new approaches which are required to progress primary medical therapy in breast cancer patients.
